2010 In Review
2010 was seen as an end and a beginning. To many, the oncoming recession saw it as an end of economic prosperity and hope that was introduced over by the Clinton administration and then galavanized and superceded by the Gore Administration. It was the end of the optimism brought forth by the end of the Cold War and even as the post-Cold War political era set in, it seemed things would go okay. Palestine and Israel were making real steps to peace to where the former was now a recognized nation, Iran and the US had buried the hatchet and approaching a better relationship born of cautious optimism. Environmentalism cemented itself in the mainstream far-greater than anyone predicted with the Exxon-Mobil scandal and subsequent problems and solutions accelerating the decline of the fossil fuel industry, especially as growing streams of thought led to a divergeance from consumerism. For some though, they saw 2010 as the beginning. Of a shaking up of the status quo and a new opportunity. Hopes to achieve dreams such as same-sex marriage legalized in the US and approaching the long haunting problems within politics and the economy.
Moreover, the world was standing at a precipe. As the Recession spread from American housing loans leading to bank failures and a cascading effect, it began threatening the established foundations and people began pointing fingers at one another. Regarding the Recession, not even the Russian bear was safe from this as this would further harm their exporting interests. Other nations meanwhile were benefitting from the Recession in some form or fashion. China responded with further investment into their infrastructure and moreover, began accelerating their ecological and green interests, noting that Gore's example for the Americans surprised them and forced them to reconsider their pace. In fact, they saw it as a semi-friendly challenge. After all, if Gore was able to accomplish enough in a decadant capitalist system for noticeable difference, then a more controlled economy like theirs should be able to do more and they have been crafty enough to listen the growing routes that the Americans have been discussing regarding biofuels, various electric sources and so on. Another was Iran as they were doing their best with the oil and investing into the infrastructure. However, they have also been investing further into the military. While part of it was because their new American ally was doing it, they also noted that tensions have been increasing with their neighbors of Iraq and Saudi Arabia and they wanted to be able to defend themselves. Many sense that the winds of change were about to go in a new direction, but which one, no one is sure. The coalition of Conservatives won in Austrailia, but with not that much confidence and the same could be said for the Cameron government in the UK, the Harper government in Canada or even the McCain governemnt in the US. Indeed, the Anglosphere holds a fair bit of prominence and influence and growing signs are showing a shift is coming.
Despite this and the pop culture shift coming along from the #MeTwo movement, it proved to be quite a good year for films and so on. The big winner was Disney with a film that was long rumored to have been in their final traditionally animated film. They have pulled all the stops and even rumored they pushed for copyright reform to make this film because of public domain. None other than The Thirteen Clocks, a fantasy tale by Thurber considered his best and Disney even got Neil Gaiman to assist in the adaptation given how he provided an introduction in the reprint. The film was a colossal smash success and beat out even Toy Story 3 if barely. Meanwhile, Inception dazzled everyone as an immense thriller and other animated classics earned their way to the top such as Despicable Me and How to Train your Dragon, restoring more faith in animation. Of course, not everything was hunky-dory. The changes made along with growing behaviors meant some films had more production. Percy Jackson as a film adaptation would become shelved due to problems in early production that appeared in pre-production. The Scott Pilgrim Vs the World film would undergo a troubled production in part due to the caution of adopting a six-part (well five, given the final book did not come out at the time) graphic novel series into a single film. However, the film would survive in part due to the indie scene; it would go from being distributed by Universal to being distributed as an indie film thanks to Openfilm and their partners of Project MAY-O. Indeed, Project MAY-O took a heavy interest because of the age bracket and connection of indie scene. While the film would be delayed (due to the decision to make it a trilogy), it would allow the film to succeed. Additionally, many Canadians and indie artists would appear in the film, either as soundtrack, cameos or extra, including the "Canadian Timberlake" and said musician's protege, Justin Bieber. The cult classic success of the film would allow the funding of the next two films and in the growing backlash against the elite, bring more attention to indie projects as a while. However, the bigger news was on Iron Man 2. The film sees Tony meet up with a new ally in famed spy, Natasha Romanov, aka Black Widow. She has comes to assist him and warn him on an oncoming danger, all while Tony wrestles with updating his ARC Reactor's component given it is poisoning him. The threat is none other than Boris Bullski, an old aquiantance of Natasha and former KGB agent. Boris' conflict with Tony is personal; his exoskeleton predates Tony's, but lacked a portable power source. Tony's triumph thus kept Boris from rising to fame for the glory of his nation. Boris teams up with Justine Hammer, daughter of Justin Hammer, an old business rival of his father Howard. The British Hammer Industries was once the formidable arms industry before the rise of Stark Industries and his bowing out gives the a chance to do so. Tony's alcoholism in dealing with his poisoning led to his prototype being taken by his best Rhodey, resulting in the creation of War Machine by Hammer Industries. However, during his time in studyign and designing the War Machine armor, Boris uses it and Hammer's resources to make his own superior version, the Titantium Man armor, including making a modified version of Tony's ARC Reactor. The film had themes about fatherhood, given the contrasts beteen Tony and Justine with theri fathers (Tony and Howard being complicated but genuinely affectionate while the affable appearance in Justine and her father give way to resentment as Justine is in her father's shadow and now Tony's as well) Another is on reflections in the past, such as the former British age being supplemented by the Americans and the callback to the old days of the USSR and now that it's gone. Many were surprised to catch a glimpse of the Mandarin in a post-credits scene, namely in that such a character would be used. Interviews note they went with him because he is Tony's biggest foe; moreover, they maintain the theme of facing the past with what Mandarin represents: imperialism.
Meanwhile, video games continued on into the future. Nintendo found further success with Super Mario Galaxy 2 doing quite well. Donkey Kong Country Returns also did well with one of the big things being Pokemon Black & White Versions. However, perhaps the big news was on the delay of Metroid: Other M. According to rumor, the delays happens in part due to production troubles, which led to the game having to become reimagined after the troubles led to intervention from the higher-ups. Many people were captivated by the story and the new Pokemon within it. SEGA meanwhile released some enw games over for the Xbox such as Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and more notably, Sonic Colors, which many saw the franchise move forward and provide new fun with the Wisps, serving as new power-ups. Additionally, it contained a couple of references to Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood. Meanwhile, other successful Xbox games included Mass Effect II, the extensively popular and successful sequel to the game. It would become a surprising smash out hit over in Japan as it became promoted on the Xbox 360. So much so that during a showcase with the original Mass Effect at a video game expo, Miyamoto was invited to play a little and he noted he was pretty impressed by it. There was even a joke on who would win between Shepard or Samus Aran. Other popular Xbox games included Bioshock 2, Red Dead Redemption, Fallout New Vegas and Assassin's Creed. Sony meanwhile managed to keep up if barely in part due to a rough couple of years. However, Heavy Rain became a big classic over time along with some other games. World of Warcraft meanwhile saw further expansion with Cataclysm and new games showed up, like Scott Pilgrim vs the World The Game, coming out on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii, adapted by Rare-Ubisoft. The beat-em-up game is quite popular, with a chiptune soundtrack and wonderful sprite work, though with some collecting elements coming from a touch by Rare. And of course, plenty of changes were coming from #MeTwo movement and some wondered how this would affect gaming...